


walking blues

by downmoon



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-20
Updated: 2014-12-20
Packaged: 2018-03-02 11:33:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,518
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2810648
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/downmoon/pseuds/downmoon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“I want to be the best I can be, because you came back, Asahi.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	walking blues

**Author's Note:**

  * For [aelphia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/aelphia/gifts).



> happy holidays, aelphia!

Nishinoya has a new bruise.

It's not like he ever keeps them secret; he's rather fond of showing them off, actually, and explaining the exact story behind each bruise to whoever will willingly, or sometimes unwillingly, listen. But this one he's kept quiet about, and Asahi only knows this because he's usually on the receiving end of _all_ of Noya's injury stories.

It was chance that Asahi happened to notice it, glancing over at Noya while he was plucking at his kneepad. The bruise peeks out from beneath the fabric like the edge of a storm cloud, mottled in shades of purple and green, like someone’s dunked a brush in ink and pressed it to Noya’s skin until it had all soaked in. The bruise makes Asahi wince when he sees it, but in another instant, Noya stops fussing with his kneepad, and the fabric snaps to hide it again. It slips from his mind the rest of practice, and he only remembers it when Noya lifts his shirt to show Tanaka a different injury.

“Ryuu, check it out.”

“Oh _man_ , does it hurt?”

“Not even a little bi- ow! Don’t poke it!”

Tanaka’s marveling soon draws over Hinata, which means Kageyama is following close behind, which means the rest of the team members still in the club room are ignoring all the crowing over Noya’s latest bruise.

If he tried, maybe ducked his head a little bit, he could probably see what they’re all so amazed by. Or, he could turn back to his locker, and pull a semi-clean shirt over his head, turn around, and find Noya waiting for him, grin across his face, shirt lifted high enough that Asahi has a clear view of the red mark starting to turn brown.

It’d been a great save, during practice, everyone on Noya’s side of the net wincing when his stomach hit the floor, but he’d just jumped straight back into the practice game when the ball had flown back into the air.

“Noya-san’s so _cool_!”

“The coolest!”

“Senpai!”

“Okay, okay, calm down, it’s not that big a deal,” but it’s clear to see from Noya’s self-satisfied little smirk that it is, that he’s reveling in the attention the great big red mark across his hip is drawing. He drops his shirt, and goes about packing up his things, chattering on about guarding the team’s backs, and how _this isn’t even the worst one I’ve ever gotten_. Asahi’s gaze flickers down to Noya’s knee, still hidden under the kneepad, and he wonders.

He’s not quite sure how to bring it up. Knowing Noya, he’d spin it around and completely skirt the issue, if there even was an issue. There probably wasn’t. He was probably just overreacting, as usual, worrying over something that didn’t matter. Noya probably just bashed his knee, hitting the floor at some point, always _going_ for the ball.

But it bothers him. It’s a little plaguing thought at the back of his mind, that bruise, even though it shouldn’t be. He watches Noya as carefully as he can, catching tiny grimaces flashing across his face, watching how he sometimes takes an extra second to stand back up, after diving across the floor. The kneepad stays securely in place, even after practices, and Asahi’s just starting to work up the courage to ask about it when he spots another one.

It’s on Noya’s elbow, not unusual; Noya’s always covered in bruises, but it’s another one that gets tucked beneath a pad and not acknowledged. He only sees it because Noya switches his elbow pad from his right to his left when they’re standing in line to practice receives, once again covering up the bruise that looks more like an inkstain.

“Hey, Noya.”

_“Ennoshita!”_

“Ah, Asahi-san! First practice match tomorrow!”

“Yeah-”

“Are you excited?”

_“Good. Yamaguchi next. Come on!”_

“Um, I guess? Nervous…”

“Heh, that’s alright. I am, too.”

“S-so, Noya-”

_“Put some effort into it, Tsukishima!”_

“Um, your elbow-”

He can see it, the way Noya’s eyes sharpen ever so slightly, his focus narrowing in on Asahi’s face, and Asahi knows all at once that he’s discovered something he wasn’t meant to.

“Your knee, too.”

“What about it?”

_"Kageyama, let’s go.”_

“Well, they look painful. Maybe you should rest up a little-”

“It’s just a couple of bruises, no big deal. It happens all the time.”

“Yeah, but you always brag about them-”

_“Calm down, Hinata, again!”_

“So? What does that have to do with anything?”

“Well, nothing, I just noticed-”

“It’s fine, Asahi-san, nothing to worry about. It’ll be fine.”

_“Alright, Nishinoya.”_

“I’ll be fine for tomorrow’s match.”

“But-”

_“Nishinoya, come on!”_

Noya doesn’t smile, doesn’t do anything to reassure him, just gives Asahi one last look before running forward for his receive.

He doesn’t want practice to end, because now he _knows_ something’s up, but it does, and the stirring of dread he’d been feeling sits like a stone in his stomach. Noya looks as cheerful as usual, smiling and laughing and causing a general ruckus, but never once looking in Asahi’s direction. It makes him feel sick, the lurking anticipation of confrontation, especially because it’s Noya. He’s clever and quick, while Asahi stumbles over the words he can never quite say, and he knows as soon as he starts talking, Noya will appraise him with those sharp eyes.

“I’m locking up, Asahi. Don’t forget it’s your turn to get here first tomorrow morning.”

“Ah, right. I won’t forget.”

Daichi gives him a look when he hands off the key, one of those looks loaded with skepticism, but he doesn’t say anything, just slips into stride with Suga and burrows further into his jacket.

Asahi’s waiting for Noya, is what it comes down to, and he’s still waiting ten minutes after Daichi and Suga left. He’s starting to wonder if Noya had walked home with Tanaka or Ennoshita, if he’ll have to pull Noya aside tomorrow and trip through his expression of worry, but Noya’s coming around the corner, alone, hands shoved into his pockets, with the slightest limp coming from the bruised knee.

“Asahi-san. What are you still doing here? Thought you went home already.”

“Well, I uh, thought we could walk.”

There’s a flicker that goes across Noya’s face, one so slight Asahi might not have noticed it, if he didn’t already know Noya so well. It’s the expression that comes when Noya’s annoyed, but burying it underneath a false veneer of contentedness.

“Let’s walk, then.”

They fall into step together, Noya’s quick steps to his own slower.

“Listen, Noya, about your knee-”

“Are you still on about that? I told you I was fine. I’ll be fine for tomorrow.”

“Noya, I’m just-”

“It’s fine, don’t worry about. Heh, you’re always worrying too much, Asahi-”

“But I _am_ worried!”

Noya looks a little startled, a little in awe that Asahi actually spoke that loudly, when he’s normally so taciturn.

“I just...I remember when I first started playing volleyball, I practiced until my arms went numb. My mom wouldn’t let me go to any more practices, because I’d bruised my arms so bad. They were all swollen and purple.”

“Yeah.”

“She said I had to learn to take care of myself, too, if I was gonna play a sport, because pushing yourself too far wouldn’t be beneficial to anybody. I remember I didn’t know what ‘beneficial’ meant at the time, but then, when I got older, and I finally worked up the nerve to join the middle school team, I figured it had something to do with the way a team pulls together, and functions as a whole. Not the individuals.”

He’s a little out of breath, because the evening air is chilly, and he’s nervous, but Noya’s watching him, blessedly silent for once, as he waits for Asahi to explain.

“I...you’re part of the team, Noya. We both are. A-and, you’re strong, but you don’t have to be. Wait, that’s not what I meant! Ah, oh man…”

Noya’s mouth curves up in a smile, slight, but a smile still. Asahi’s at a loss, because after long spiels, Noya usually jumps in with a condensed summary of what he was trying to say, and Asahi nods along in relief. But tonight Noya’s oddly silent, the crunch of gravel beneath their feet and the emerging night birds the only sounds between them.

“I want to be the best I can be, because you came back, Asahi.”

Asahi can actually feel the flush spread across his cheeks, as the weight of Noya’s words fully hit him.

“No more missed receives, no more poor plays. I want to go to the top, and I want you to go with me.”

“Noya…”

“So we’ll go, right, Asahi?”

Noya looks at him again, full of hope and determination, fierce-eyed and intense like his focus in the middle of a game. Asahi smiles. “Yeah, we’ll go. Together.”

“Right. Together.”

Noya smiles bright and gleeful, squeezing Asahi’s arm in a quick pulse, before he’s racing off, daring Asahi to chase him. Asahi follows. He’ll always follow Noya.

**Author's Note:**

> [tumblr](downmoonwrites.tumblr.com)   
>  [twitter](https://twitter.com/dyefighter)


End file.
